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The rise of autonomous operator maintenance and work redesign
My blog entry on the “White Glove Story” got close to the idea of operator maintenance. My study on the coal gasification generating plant was about the ultimate vision of the one employee who has the skills and ability to do whatever is necessary to keep the process operating effectively. What
Lean lessons for the recession
Transforming a manufacturing business into a lean enterprise during boom times is a fun and exciting experience. Lean generates growth, new customers, market penetration … all good things. In today’s world, one might ask, “How do I use lean now?” The answer is much the same as in
The objective is to eliminate surprises
Surprises have their place, but they are not welcome in a manufacturing operation. “One of the goals for manufacturing in our organization has to be to eliminate surprises,” a CFO of a U.S. manufacturing company told me recently. “We don’t seem to be able to prevent ugly surprises
